Maroon5d Prologue
by PsychLassieFan4Ever
Summary: Episode Tag "From Earth to Starbucks" ... Carlton and Shawn start "something" and both of their lives will change because of their decisions. Carlton's pretty angsty to start, but he's cute when he's angsty. Is a Shassie story, pre-slash. Only the beginning.
1. Chapter 1-Lassiter's POV (the bar)

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own anything related to Psych, the TV show besides my DVD sets of seasons 1-6. My imagination loves to play with the characters, as if they were action figures in a toy chest; that's all this is. Fun.

**Author's Note:** Not sure how often I will be updating, but I do not like it when authors start a story and never finish- this WILL get completed, just hang on for the ride. This is a Prologue for a Longer story. Also, I have no Beta-reader, but I try to read and re-read what I've written to catch mistakes... if you have an interest in Beta-reading for me; just ask. Good Luck and Thank you.

* * *

**Lassiter's POV**

He stood in the doorway, watched her pack the last of her items into the trailer and couldn't help but think that there could have been something he should have done to keep her from leaving. Maybe if he had tried harder to try the counseling she suggested, or worked harder to curb other urges that he just couldn't stow away. Maybe if he had worked harder at the relationship and less on his career.

Her giving up and leaving was not in his life plan. They were supposed to stay together, husband and wife. He could have worn her down, eventually, enough to have kids. They were supposed to be a family. Surely a hard-working, high-ranking detective in Santa Barbara with a wife and a family would have then looked appealing enough to the Mayor to consider for a promotion to Chief of Police.

As Detective Carlton Lassiter closed the door to the house he once shared with his wife, he felt as if he had just closed the door on all the dreams and plans he had made long ago.

What would he do now?

He poured himself a drink. As the bourbon travelled down his throat, a new series of thoughts formed. It was just a separation; he still had time to work on those could-haves and should-haves. Possibly work on some of those maybes to get her to come back, if she would want him back.

It wasn't love that drove him to work on this plan. It was fear; fear of failure and fear of things he didn't want to confront. He would not consider an idea that wouls let the marriage fail.

* * *

He walked into Tom Blair's Pub and ordered his drink.

"Bourbon. Straight." Funny term, he thought. Straight up. Whatever. Lassiter sat down and slouched on the stool.

Today marked the two-year anniversary of the day Victoria walked away from him. For two years, Carlton had tried everything he knew to try and convince the woman that she should reconsider the separation. Nothing had worked. And today he found out that she had a new boyfriend: a scum-sucking personal injury ambulance-chasing lawyer. It was really over. He had failed. He had lost. Now everything was over. He was done.

Tonight he had no care that he was supposed to work in the morning or that there was a case he knew he could solve if the Chief hadn't made him back down. No, tonight he was going to drink, get drunk and maybe forget about how epically he had failed at his life to this point. Tomorrow he would deal with any consequences from his actions, but tonight he did not care. Tonight he would be just Carlton Lassiter; not Head Detective, not for the SBPD. The guns, the badge and the work would all be forgotten after he finished the third drink when he pocketed his car keys; knowing he wasn't going to drive himself home.

He ordered his fourth drink and an attractive woman sat next to him and ordered a martini for herself and turned to speak to Lassiter. She has a nice smile and her perfume smelled faintly of vanilla and lavender.

"Hello. Are you here alone or should I scoot over to the next seat?"

"Oh. I am most certainly alone tonight. You can feel free to sit there as long as you need before your date shows."

The lady laughed. "I'm not waiting for anyone. I was hoping to talk to you."

"Me? Well, in that case, I'm Carlton." He tried to smile at her, and hoped he didn't come across as creepy.

"I'm Lindsay. You look like you are trying to drown out something with all of the alcohol you can ingest this evening. Anything you'd like to share?"

"No. Not really, no. How about you? What has you here tonight?"

"Just feeling lonely, thought I'd try for some conversation, or something." Lindsay reached over and ran her hand down his left arm and it opened a window of hope that he might not go home alone tonight.

"Oh. Well, I can try to keep you company, then." He was definitely in the mood to try. Anything.

Lindsay smiled at him and started to talk about herself and tried to get details about Carlton, all the while breaking the touch barrier every so often to keep his attention.

Sometime during her explanation of her hobby, which was collecting rare stamps, Carlton's attention had started to wander. The alcohol was clouding his mind and he felt himself getting bored with conversation. A rather handsome man walked to the spot on Lassiter's right and ordered a drink. Carlton couldn't keep himself from eyeing the man. He was wearing decent clothes, not a suit and tie but a nice polo shirt and dark jeans. The snugness of both alluded to the details of his body. The alcohol had loosened Carlton up and his proclamation of not caring still held. The man was fit and very attractive. When the man's drink was placed in front of him, he caught Lassiter's stare. He signaled the bartender and ordered Carlton his fifth bourbon.

"Thanks. I'm Carlton."

"Danny." Danny offered his hand and Carlton shook it to complete the greeting, noting how the other man held onto his hand for a moment longer than was customary for a generic handshake. Carlton felt a twinge of excitement run through his arm, almost like electricity and was brought out of the boredom that he felt just moments ago.

"I'm sorry..." Lindsay piped in between the two men. For a moment, Carlton had forgotten he had been talking to the woman. "I'll just... it was nice meeting you, Carlton."

"Wait. Wait. Lindsay, was it?" He could feel the alcohol in his head as he started to stand to stop the woman before she left. "Don't leave."

He brought his hand to her shoulder and leaned in close to her. "Don't leave."

"Hey, man. What's your deal? I just bought you a drink. I thought we were talking here?" The tone sounded irritated.

Lassiter turned back to Danny. "Sure. We can talk." He looked between Lindsay and Danny. "We can all talk. No need to pair up already. We can all be open-minded, right?"

"Sorry. I'm not into that." Lindsay threw him a disgusted look as she grabbed her drink and walked further into the bar.

"Look, I am not here for someone who doesn't know what he wants. Good luck." Danny slapped a hand on Carlton's shoulder and he walked away.

"Well, shit. That went well." Carlton mumbled as he stumbled back to his barstool. He finished the drink and dialed the taxi service. It was the bartender that spoke to him next.

"Tough night. Want some free advice?"

"Not really. Why not? Couldn't hurt more, right?"

"Try not casting your net so wide next time. You might want to focus on one or the other."

"Yeah. Well, thanks for that." A sarcastic reply was all he had as a response. If he could decide on what he wanted, his life would probably suck less. "One more please. I'm expecting a taxi. Would you mind letting me know when it gets here?"

"Sure."

Lassiter moved himself and his drink to a small table near the door. It was a few minutes later that he heard the voice of someone he really, really did not want to see. Not tonight.

He looked up and saw Shawn Spencer talking to a nice-looking woman. He noticed how Spencer's shirt lifted slightly in the back and he saw how nicely tanned the skin was. He caught himself wondering how often the other man sat outside without his shirt.

"Spencer has no problems choosing what he wants." Jealousy ran through him, as he thought how Spencer had no problems with the ladies and solved cases with astounding accuracy. The last point returned his thoughts to the astronomer case the chief wouldn't let him pursue further.

"I was to not care. No. Not tonight."

"Lassi?"

"Spencer! Why am I not surprised?"

* * *

(The Next Morning)

"Oh God."

His head wouldn't stop pounding and the light in his room seemed too bright. Carlton Lassiter sat up and checked the clock on his nightstand. He had one hour to clear his head and get ready to go for work.

Since it wasn't his first hangover, Carlton started to lay out the steps to Operation Wake Up, Clean Up and Sober Up as he headed to the bathroom. After he started the shower, he looked at himself in the mirror.

"Man, you really know how to party by yourself. Alone. Always alone." If it hadn't been for Spencer showing up at the bar after the double rejection, he wouldn't have talked to anyone last night. His resolution to 'not care' and enjoy himself hadn't panned out the way he hoped. Turned out he couldn't turn off that part of his brain as easy as it had sounded at the beginning of the evening.

"Wait. How did I get back home?" He remembered that he called a taxi. He must have been at least able to tell the driver where he lived. "Taxi. I took a taxi."

He stepped into the shower and began the process of getting himself ready for work. Once he was dressed and had some toast for breakfast, he was about to call for a taxi to drop him at the bar for his car when he noticed his car keys in the tray by the door.

"What the hell? Please tell me that I did not drive myself home last night." It was bad enough that he had gotten himself so drunk that he couldn't remember how he had gotten home, but if he had driven himself home... He hoped he hadn't broken laws last night. Laws he had taken an oath to uphold. He spent several minutes to look around for any clues to how he had gotten home, but came up with nothing. Except that his handcuffs were missing. Crap. He would have to fill out paperwork for a new set.

"Damn it." He grabbed his keys and decided to pick up coffee on his way to the station.

* * *

"Hey Lassi."

"What is it Spencer?" He wondered how the hell he kept finding him like that? First at the bar and now at the station. Had Spencer tacked a GPS tracker into his suits?

"How are you doing? You okay?"

"All right, I'll bite. What's the joke?" Why could he possibly be interested if I'm okay? He thought.

"Just want to make sure you got home all right last night."

What? Did Spencer just ask me if I got home all right? Wouldn't he have seen me drive off or... oh no, did Spencer drive me home? Lassiter couldn't stop his mind from almost panicking.

"From what?" He was at work, maybe if he played it off until he could talk to the other man alone, away from his friend and business partner, the conversation would stop.

"From the bar."

"What bar?"

"You were at a bar?" O'Hara joined the group that followed him to his desk. Great. Now he had to have this conversation in front of his Junior Partner?

"No. I wasn't at a bar. I don't drink."

He thought that if he kept it up he might be able to convince himself that Spencer wasn't at the bar, hadn't driven him home and that he hadn't been checking out the fake psychic last night.

"Spencer, why don't you stop making up stories, okay? They're obviously bogus." He was lying. But the only one in the area who knew that was Spencer.

"And how'd you get that sweet bruise on your forehead?"

Shit. He had forgotten about the bruise he eyed in the mirror while he shaved. He had no idea how he had gotten that.

"I had an altercation." His statement came out sounding like a question.

"Yes, with a table."

Crap. Had he passed out at the bar? If he had, how did he get home? And. Wait. When he had woken up he was in his boxer shorts. Spencer hadn't undressed him, had he? What else had transpired last night that he couldn't remember? But Spencer just wasn't letting this go.

"I get it. Yesterday was a tough anniversary for you."

"What?" Did I say something about Victoria? His thoughts usually went downhill when he thought about the split and the reasons behind it. He really hoped he hadn't said more to the other man.

"Who have you been talking to?" He moved closer to the only one in the room who really knew what happened last night. He tried to sound angry or intimidating, but the closer he got to the man, with his smug smirk and those eyes that told him that he knew the truth, the more he really wanted to just have him shut up. His mind pictured leaning into those lips of his and kissing him until he shut the hell up, but what would that resolve? And he was at the station, highly inappropriate behavior.

"Nobody." Carlton swore he saw Spencer's eyes go to his lips before answering. Could Spencer have known what he had thought just a second before? "I'll get out of your hair."

Thank Sweet Lady Justice that he had left before Carlton caught himself doing something else stupid.


	2. Chapter 2-Shawn's POV (the bar)

Shawn's POV

He had started to feel that he needed to do or say something to convince the Head Detective that he was not only a gifted detective, but also on a personal level that he liked to work with Carlton.

None of the compliments that he used so far had done anything to get the detective out of his drunken funk. He listened to the nice things Carlton had lobbed in his direction about the solve rate of the cases he worked. If he had accepted any of those, he thought he would be admitting that the faults the other man spoke of tonight would be proved valid.

Shawn's heart raced with slight panic at the thought that Lassiter would really give up and turn in his badge. For the first time in a long while, Shawn felt like he had found a job that he enjoyed to work more than any other job to this point. And the detective in front of him was a huge part of that enjoyment.

Carlton Lassiter proved to be the perfect challenge. Instead of being 'on board' with any of Shawn's crazy train antics and theories, Carlton was the one who challenged Shawn to focus and figure out the mystery to be solved. He played devil's advocate and pointed out the flaws of any theory Shawn came up with. Shawn would then have to work, using his skill-set, to find the proof needed to get the case back into the purview of the detectives to figure out the puzzle. If Carlton left the SBPD, it wouldn't be challenging to work as a Psychic Detective anymore. It wouldn't be fun anymore.

Just as he was going to try once again to snap the detective out of the downward spiral he had going, the lovely brunette that he arrived at the pub with returned with her joyful news of becoming engaged. Shawn congratulated her and she went on her own way without him. He turned back to continue the talk with Lassiter, to be surprised that the man had fallen to the floor.

Shawn bent down to try and wake the man when the bartender arrived to let him know about Lassiter's taxi.

"Thanks. But I think I'll be driving this very handsome and fun-filled guy home."

The bartender looked at Lassiter and then back to Shawn. "If you say so." She looked as if she didn't believe any of those things about the man on the floor.

"Okay, Lassie. Let's get you up."

Before he tried to lift the tall but lanky man, Shawn dug around in Lassiter's pockets to try and find car keys. Why pockets in dress pants were so large, he had no idea, but in his mission to find the keys, he accidentally brushed against the detective's crotch. On the third accidental, it truly was accidental he kept insisting to himself, brush up Carlton shifted and let out a sigh. Shawn thanked any god that he found the car keys at that moment. Things would have looked very concerning to onlookers if he had taken any longer to dig around in Lassiter's pockets. He grabbed him by the arms and started lifting him to sit up before he slid his arms around Carlton's shoulders and lifted him completely.

"Jesus, Lassie. Do you eat lead for lunch? I guess all those guys are right. Muscle does weigh more than fat." With the help of one of the bar's security guys, Shawn was able to get Lassiter into the passenger seat of the man's car.

As he reached over to buckle the seat belt, Lassiter opened his eyes. They were completely glazed over and Shawn knew that the man had no idea what was going on around him at the moment.

"It's Okay, Lassie. I'm driving you home. I need your wallet to find your address, okay? I'm not trying anything funny. Just looking for the wallet."

"Left pocket." was all Carlton said to the location of the wallet.

"Thanks."

Shawn slid his hand down Lassiter's left butt cheek, and realized how awkward his position was when Lassiter leaned in and nuzzled his neck as he reached the pocket. He found the wallet and pulled it up just as Lassiter moaned. The vibration from the sound went straight to Shawn's groin. He didn't want to move away from the sensation, so he stayed where he was as he read Lassiter's home address from his license and slid the leather back into the man's pocket where he'd found it.

He paused for just one more moment to enjoy the closeness of the man before he pulled away and closed the car door.

"Okay, Lassie. I'll get you home safely."

Once Shawn pulled into the driveway, he thought about how he was going to maneuver the taller man into the house. He had help at the bar, and now he wasn't quite sure he could move him on his own. He decided he would have to wake Carlton up just enough so that he could help.

"Lassie. Come on man. You're home. I can't carry you into your house. You need to wake up just a bit." Shawn shook Lassiter hard when he didn't get a response from the first gentle nudging.

"Hmm? Spencer?"

"That's good. Wake up a little bit so you can get into your house."

"My house? How do you know where I live? I can walk on my own. Quit touching me."

"Lassieface, I drove you home. You aren't walking by yourself. Just stand up and walk with me, okay?

"Okay Spencer." With a slight lean, Lassiter pushed himself up and out of the car. But then tried to take a step on his own and lost his balance. Both men fell onto the grass next to the driveway.

With Lassiter on top of him, Shawn tried to roll out. But Lassiter seemed to have other intentions.

"You feel nice, Spencer. Soft." His head turned to the side and Shawn thought Lassiter was going to try and fall asleep right on him.

"Thanks, Lassie, but this isn't the place for a nap. We need to get you inside."

Shawn made a more determined effort to crawl out from under the detective's deceptively heavy frame, but the movement seemed to arouse the man on top of him rather than work to free himself. Shawn could feel the erection against him, but he had to get out. Finally he was able to push Lassiter to the side and was able to stand.

Lassiter's eyes were open, so Shawn grabbed his arms and slowly got the man standing again.

"We are walking to your front door, Lassie. Stay with me man."

"Okay. Walking. To the door."

The two of them made it to the porch and Shawn had to prop Lassiter against the wall as he unlocked the front door. He opened it and turned on a light before he returned for Lassiter and started walking him inside.

"Where's the bedroom, Lassie?" Shawn didn't want to just leave him on the couch.

"That way." Lassiter pointed to the left, and they went down the hallway.

From what little light there was Shawn managed to flop Lassiter onto the bed in the room and sat for a moment himself. He felt winded from the exertion of getting the detective in the room. As he caught his breath, he took a look around the place.

Lassiter's room was more about function than being decorative. The bed he sat on seemed comfortable. He figured since the detective didn't get much time to sleep every day he must have spent some money to get the best sleep he could in the small hours he got. There were the obligatory dressers and bedside tables and laundry basket, but nothing else.

When he finally was able to breath normally, Shawn walked to the wall and turned on the light. He looked down at Lassiter who had stayed where he dropped. Should he try and get the man comfortable for bed, or leave him like this?

Maybe he should at least take off the man's shoes. He knew that he didn't like to sleep in his own shoes, or socks for that matter; especially dress socks. So he untied and removed Lassiter's shoes and placed them neatly next to the dresser. Socks came off and Shawn found a laundry basket to throw them into. He felt surprisingly nurturing taking care of the so-tightly-wound man.

Since he was enjoying how it felt to take care of someone else, he decided to help the man out of his work clothes. Belts and buttons hurt when you lay on them too long, as everyone knows.

He removed the belt and unbuttoned the man's shirt. But the rest of the clothing was going to be really difficult to remove with Lassiter out like a light.

It took some time, but the rest of the clothing did come off with barely an incident, only a few moans from the sleeping man and one slightly embarrassing moment when Shawn's arm got trapped for a moment under Carlton as he removed his shirt.

He had reached under and around to avoid ripping the shirt as he tugged it out from under Carlton. He almost had it removed when said sleeping man rolled over and Shawn was caught with his arm around the man and his face buried in his chest hair.

"Oh God." The warmth from Lassiter's body and sound of the strong heart beating so very close to him were almost enough to make him give up and stay with the other man tonight. He quickly pulled his arm out along with the shirt he had been trying to remove and promised to himself that he would somehow get to that position again but under a better set of circumstances.

As he made sure Lassiter was comfortably situated, he noticed a slight red mark that was starting to form on the detective's forehead. Most likely it was caused when the man's head hit the table before he fell to the floor at the bar. That was going to be a nasty red mark in the morning.

"Good Night, Lassie. See you at work tomorrow." Shawn turned out the light and left the room. He called for a taxi to get himself home and as he waited, he placed Lassiter's keys into a tray by the door, he figured it was there for that purpose. He thought about putting the pair of handcuffs that Lassiter had given him at the bar into the tray too, but decided that he'd keep them instead.

"He's the one that handed them to me. Maybe I'll give them back when I help him solve that astronomer case."

Shawn saw the taxi pull up and made sure both the car and the front door were locked before he left.

(The Next Morning)

He had some interesting dreams while he slept. Some were about moments he shared with Lassiter that didn't quite make sense. He was really focused on making sure the detective got home and some of the incidents that happened hadn't sunk in until he had gotten home. The way Lassiter had nuzzled into his neck or moaned while he was digging in his pockets for keys or lying underneath the man when he felt how aroused the man was on top of him.

Shawn never like to label his sexuality, always figuring that he fell for people and personalities rather than gender-specific qualities. But no matter if they were women or men, he never could seem to make it past the first date. And now, it seemed that after last night he had started to form a crush on the tall, Irish detective that he worked with on cases, sometimes closely.

He had taken the liberties at many times to grope and play with the detective. On many occasions he reveled in the fact that only he was able to work his way through Carlton Lassiter's personal space bubble when others were instantly shut down from even the slightest movement towards the man. That included his junior detective partner, who many times tried to start conversations with Lassiter or offer a hug and was instantly met with the intimidating glare of his.

He couldn't wait to play with the Head Detective this morning about last night, so when Shawn woke up in his apartment/dry cleaning shop he practically jumped out of bed and got himself ready for the day.

Shawn met Gus at the Psych office after much convincing to join him to get onto a case. He knew that he would try and re-open the Valerie case for Lassiter, but Gus wouldn't go along with it if he knew the why, the how and that they weren't going to get paid.

He would wait until they were at the station to let his friend in on the details. He also wanted to get Lassiter's pretty blonde partner, Juliet O'Hara, on board before he tried to convince Gus to go along.

He was antsy, barely able to contain himself as he waited with Gus for Detective Lassiter to arrive, coffee already in hand. No doubt he needed the caffeine after last night.

"Hey Lassi."

"What is it Spencer?"

"How are you doing? You okay?"

"All right, I'll bite. What's the joke?"

"Just want to make sure you got home all right last night." A slight grin formed on his face knowing full well that the man got home and that was taken care of before he was left alone.

He noticed a little panicked look from the detective. Maybe he doesn't remember how he got home.

"From what?"

Oh, so Lassie was going to try and make like it hadn't happened? Right. Shawn wasn't going to let him off the hook too easily.

"From the bar."

"What bar?"

"You were at a bar?" Juliet joined the group that followed Lassiter to his desk. Great. Now it would be even more fun.

"No. I wasn't at a bar. I don't drink."

Right, the large amount of alcohol that helped the detective pass out last night must have been inhaled or sprayed in aerosol form in get into his body?

"Spencer, why don't you stop making up stories, okay? They're obviously bogus." He was lying. Shawn knew that he was lying, but no one else did.

"And how'd you get that sweet bruise on your forehead?"

Oh yeah, that red mark was just asking to be called out. Lassiter's face flushed at its being noticed.

"I had an altercation."

"Yes, with a table."

Gus and Jules were just watching, so Shawn wanted to make the detective crack in some way.

"I get it. Yesterday was a tough anniversary for you."

"What?" That was the emotion spark he was looking for. The fact that Carlton had let it slip how long the separation had lasted was a card he could play.

"Who have you been talking to?" Carlton moved in closer to Shawn and Shawn backed into the file cabinet without anywhere else to go. Lassiter's look was an attempt to intimidate him, but instead his closeness and the heat from the man's body was enticing to Shawn.

"Nobody." Shawn looked at the detective's lips that were so close now that all he would have to do is lean a little closer. But he had work to do to help the detective and raise the man's esteem before he could venture any further. "I'll get out of your hair."

Shawn pushed passed Detective Lassiter and started on his new mission of getting Jules to help him help Lassie solve the astronomer case.


	3. Chapter 3-Vallery Case Evidence

**Lassiter's POV**

Lassiter sat at his desk and tried to concentrate on filling in the form to replace his handcuffs. He had no idea where he may have left the damned things, but obviously last night had seen him do things he normally wouldn't.

He drifted in thought about the bar. He could remember the attempts to hookup; he wished he could forget that. Spencer knew about the anniversary of his separation, so he stood to assume that Spencer also knew the why of the split. Carlton knew when he started to drink and let loose the truth behind how long he had been separated, the truth behind why came out right along with it.

It had happened in only one other moment with Lucinda. They had gone out together after the McCallum case. He was trying to set her at ease with dating him and prove to her that the marriage was over. Carlton came clean to the length of time he had been separated and he proceeded to tell her how his wife tried to think her husband's "experimental" past was only a phase that ended when they exchanged vows. But how one night after Carlton had finished a case, he decided to follow up with the brother of the victim. Victoria sat in the car and watched Carlton comfort the man with a brief handshake hug and he reassured the man that the SOB that murdered his brother would not be set free for a long, long time- if ever. The man responded by grabbing Lassiter by the back of the neck and kissed him on the lips.

Carlton remembered he was shocked by the man's actions, but he felt his eyes close in reflex and before he realized what happened, he heard himself moan onto the man's mouth. He had quickly stopped himself after that, but Victoria was convinced that something must have been going on throughout the whole case for the man to respond in that way. Nothing he did managed to convince her otherwise, she had decided he was guilty of something and she was done.

He confessed to Lucinda that he had enjoyed the man's kiss and that every now and then missed the touch of another man.

Lucinda had submitted her transfer papers the next day. Not because her relationship with Lassiter had been revealed, although that was the rumor and he left it as such, but because she was not going to be embarrassed to be in a relationship with someone that could one day be found dallying on the other side of the fence.

So what was he supposed to do now that Spencer had that information? He felt his pen jab at his head as it clicked over and over. Without warning, his partner threw a file onto his desk and he jumped as it made a slap sound.

"Here's the Bryant Vallery file."

* * *

**Juliet O'Hara's POV**

Juliet watched her partner, the Head Detective of the SBPD, as he sat and tapped his pen on his forehead. He looked dazed, lost in thought and almost like he was daydreaming?

She thought it was very generous of the resident psychic to want to help her partner on a case without his usual malarkey or shenanigans. Detective O'Hara wanted to know why Shawn wanted to do this for Carlton.

From the interaction between the two men earlier she concluded that Shawn had run into Lassiter at a bar, but Lassiter didn't want anyone to know about it. He went so far as to make it sound like Shawn had made it all up. But when Carlton's face flushed red at the mention of it being 'a tough anniversary', Juliet knew there was something to Shawn's story.

Shawn had given her the details of his conversation with the astronomer's widow so she could follow up on the affair lead. Now it was up to her to try and convince Carlton that it was his idea for her to do the follow up.

"Here's the Bryant Vallery file."

"The what?" She could tell he completely had no idea why she had brought the file.

"Wait... the astronomer?"

"Yes. And I just finished the follow up with Mary, the widow."

"You what?" Juliet had never seen the detective look so confused. Maybe he was having trouble remembering other things too? How much did he drink last night? And that mark on his forehead looked terrible.

"You asked me to."

"I did?"

"You called me last night about a hunch you had. I arranged everything this morning. And wow. Did it ever pay off!" Carlton just looked at her.

"You were right about the affair."

"I was?"

"Yeah. The wife totally suspected it."

"She what?"

"That he potentially was having an affair." Juliet thought for a moment that her bluff that he had called her last night would be challenged. But she relaxed when Lassiter opened the file and jumped up.

"Well isn't that interesting? I want to re-interview everybody. And get me a copy of the coroner's report. I told you there was more to this case."

She watched her partner get absorbed in the case as he walked with purpose to the chief's office with the new case details. Juliet almost wanted to give herself a high five for her performance.

After lunch and about two hours of phone calls with everyone involved in the Vallery case, the two detectives had once again run out of leads. Other than the widow's suspicion of an affair and a cell phone number that Vallery called late at night to support the widow's suspicion, there was nothing else to go on. The coroner's report sat and laughed at them with its COD of natural causes. No trauma, no wounds, no toxins, nothing.

"I don't care what the coroner says. Healthy hearts do not just stop."

Juliet watched the wheels in her partner's head turn. He had a point. But could something make a heart stop?

"But you know what? I got a golf buddy who's a cardiologist. I'm gonna run these by him. Mind the store. I'll be back."

It really was nice to see him so confident again. She noticed he had lost some of his nearly arrogant attitude lately. Seems Shawn was right to help him on this case. She still had no idea why, though.


	4. Chapter 4-The Wrap up

**Lassiter's POV**

Lassiter could not believe the progress he had made on the Vallery case in so short a time. He still couldn't work out the way a healthy heart could stop on its own, his golfing cardiologist buddy could only offer up the theory of poison. But there was no generic, all-inclusive poison test. To run them all would be ridiculous. The case did have a suspect with motive to cause the man's death: Vallery's astronomer co-worker, Hugo.

Lassiter and O'Hara had gone to where Vallery had opened a safe deposit box and, with a warrant, found evidence that Vallery was going to dissolve the partnership with Hugo and was going to take all credit for their new discovery.

Motive, opportunity, all that was missing was the way in which the man had been murdered. That damnable coroner's report. Natural causes. Carlton so wanted to nail this guy for murder.

He was relieved to have this case to keep him distracted from thinking about the bar incident with Spencer. That night's memory lapse was unsettling and that Spencer knew a secret or two about him was unfortunate. But the irritating consultant hadn't made any off-color comments or jokes in his direction. In fact, he hadn't seen Spencer for days.

Carlton was slightly willing to admit that maybe he missed the man. However, it was nice to know that he could still solve a case on his own with good police work, not showboating or grandstanding theatrics.

"Hey, partner. We just learned that Hugo is giving a presentation at the Science Center to unveil the discovery he made with Vallery."

"Then let's go."

When he and O'Hara arrived at the observatory at the Science Center, he was surprised and slightly amused to see the Wonder Twins in the auditorium. He would at least get to flaunt his case-solving skills in front of Spencer for a change.

It was Spencer who spoke up first, however.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

Carlton tried to be as confident as possible with the man.

"We just got our motive for murder, Spencer. Hugo found out that Vallery was gonna take all the credit for their discovery himself. Cut him out of it entirely." That's right, boys he thought. That's how it's done. Well, sort of. He hated to have a loose-ended how left to figure.

"Because he was on the scope when they made the find."

"Yes. Maybe" He hadn't known if Vallery was on the scope or not. Or did he? Carlton had so many pieces of evidence and witness statements handed to him so quickly the past few days.

He looked at Spencer again. He hadn't seen him in days. Why was he here now?

"What are you doing here?"

"Well we heard you had the motive, so we rushed down here to volunteer our services." His answer was quick, but the hadn't Spencer originally asked why Carlton was the the observatory?

"Thanks, but I'll take this one myself."

"Okay, well at least tell me about the poison."

"What poison? I didn't say anything about poison." He had thought about poison being used earlier, but hadn't said anything about it. Had he?

"You most certainly did."

"I heard it." O'Hara piped in.

"Clear as day." So did Guster.

"Must have slipped out." But when had the other two been around him lately in order to hear that? O'Hara, justified since she was on the case with him. But the other two? Man, his head started to hurt. "I have been thinking about poison as a method, but I can't figure out how."

"Would you like me to read your innermost thoughts?"

Oh. Hell. No. He most likely already told that man some doozies.

"Like deep, deep, deep ones."

Carlton glanced at his partner and she made a face.

Crap.

"Knock yourself out." What else could Spencer really learn? That is IF he could really read his thoughts at all?

"Okay. I just want you to relax. Breathe normally. Close your eyes."

Lassiter took a breath then closed his eyes. Then thought better of that. He wouldn't pull any funny business here, would he? He opened one eye, just in case.

Spencer grabbed his wrists. The warmth that came from the man was overwhelming and Carlton couldn't really focus on what he was saying. All of a sudden his face was smashed between his own hands and Spencer kept hold of his wrists.

"You want to check the house. Hugo's house."

That was true! How would Spencer know that he had submitted paperwork for that very thing? Could he really read his thoughts?

"I am in the process of getting a warrant."

Apparently Spencer couldn't hear his muffled response, though.

"What did he say?"

O'Hara translated for him.

"He's in the process of getting a warrant now."

Spencer pulled hands off his face.

"The garden. Check the garden."

"It's buried there?" Maybe the murder weapon?

"Something's growing. I'm getting something. Prince! No. The 'Artist Formerly Known As Prince.'"

What the hell is he talking about? Was all Carlton thought at this ridiculousness. When he got the warrant he was supposed to look in the garden for something growing and what? Singing? This made no sense.

Spencer continued.

"Wrong again. It's Prince after he was known as 'The Artist Formerly Known As Prince'."

"It's Purple."

"Yes!"

So he was to look for something purple in the garden. A poison purple plant?

"Yes! That's it! You're amazing." As Carlton lowered his hands on his own, his fingers brushed against Spencer's for just a moment. Then the 'Psychic' 's hand went up to his temple.

"Oh. The caverns of knowledge in that thing."

Okay, so there could be a purple poison plant at Hugo's place.

"Here's the problem. We ran the toxicology report. There's no trace of poisoning."

"Of course. Thank you detective. So what you're saying is he would've had to administer it very, very slowly.

That wasn't what he said, but that did make sense to the detective.

"Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying. How do you poison someone slowly?"

What was going on? Was he actually brainstorming ideas with Spencer now? Well it had seemed to be working.

"Coffee."

"No. I'm good." He wasn't looking for something to drink. He wanted to get an idea so he could bring Hugo in for murder.

"Tea." Guster was now asking if he wanted something to drink?

"Well, if you're going..." What? These two were confusing the crap out of him.

"It had to be the tea. The leaves wouldn't stand out in the tea."

"Wait. That was it. "Hugo poisoned his tea."

"Every day for six months." Added Spencer.

"Digitalis would cause arrhythmia in a healthy heart." Was completed by the pharmaceutical rep.

Digitalis.

"Which would disappear as soon as someone died." His mind raced around the next steps in this case and he didn't care about the arguing of who solved the case. Carlton would get the collar and Hugo was going away for murder.

"O'Hara. Call the coroner. Tell him to check for even the slightest traces of digitalis. And get me a new pair of handcuffs."

He saw Spencer as the man grinned at him like a loon. He then walked up to the podium and informed Hugo that instead of revealing his big discovery that he was arrested for murder.

Carlton felt confident and sure of himself as he led his suspect out of the building. He sighed with relief with finally getting to close this case that bothered him so much.

He knew he still had to talk with Spencer about that night at the bar. But he now was free from the weight of thinking he couldn't do his job. He was still a great detective. And he had three people he knew would be at his side to back him up. Even if two could get in the way at times, and one of those was damned irritating. They had listened, watched and helped as he solved this case. He was not alone.


	5. Chapter 5-You Astound Me

This is the Last Chapter in the Prologue. Maroon5d will be the title of the sequel and where my original story will launch- I did just use the Episode as a "backbone" to start. Thank you if you've read, reviewed or have been following! You are appreciated.

* * *

Lassiter walked down the hall towards Shawn Spencer.

"Spencer, a moment of your precious time." He left no room for the other man to maneuver and pulled him into the conference room.

"That night in the bar. I mentioned my wife, didn't I?"

"Yes."

"Oh, crap." Lassiter closed the door and moved closer to Shawn.

"Than I probably went into details about why she left, didn't I?"

"Actually..."

"That's alright, you don't have to placate me. I can deal with the truth. I would appreciate, though, if you would keep it to yourself that I tend to, and have been known to, hang out with and be with men as well as the ladies, romantically? This just doesn't need to be broadcast to anyone else, okay?"

"Of course." Shawn had to will his face from betraying the shock from the revealed secret and his heart from getting overly hopeful. "Especially since it was told to me when you were blitzed. I really didn't know if you were serious about that at the time. Or if you were just trying to make me feel better when I told you that I have been known to date guys from time to time."

Shawn lied, but figured since Lassiter didn't remember what was said or by whom and he had just let out a really big secret, that he owed the man one in return.

Carlton patted Spencer's shoulder and squeezed.

"Well, I thank you for your discretion and trust me, I will use the same with what you told me."

"Well you solved the case, get to give a press conference and one more murderer is off the street. Or out of the observatory? I sense a rise in your confidence, a new spring in your step..."

Yes. Well thanks for trying to help. To tell you the truth, I think I got some help on this case."

Carlton glanced toward O'Hara's desk where she was talking with Gus and Shawn followed his gaze. He hadn't realized how close he had stepped towards the other man and when he turned, his nose grazed the detective's cheek. Neither of them pulled or backed away.

"Well we all get help sometimes, right?" Lassiter's attention turned to Spencer's mouth. "It's the truly great ones that know how to accept it. And if I may add one more thing. Carlton, you astound me."

Lassiter took a slow step back to create some space between their bodies. The air had suddenly gotten too warm in the room and he opened the door to the room.

"Second half to that joke?"

"No."

"No? Alright."

O'Hara came through the doorway and ended their exchange.

"The press is asking for you outside."

"Tell them I will be right there." Lassiter closed his suit jacket and buttoned up.

Shawn was pleased to see the detective's spark had returned. Working with the SBPD would remain to be fun since Lassiter was no longer thinking about quitting.

"Tell you the truth Spence, sometimes I astound myself. How's the knot?"

"Tight." But Shawn couldn't help to think the tie did nothing to accentuate the detective's features. It was one bad tie.

"Great."

As he watched Detective Lassiter walk down the hall towards the door, Shawn put his hand in his jeans pocket and held on to the set of cuffs he had planned to return. He decided instead to keep them. After all the detective didn't remember he had them and had already gotten a replacement set.

"You're mine now."


End file.
